Word: free-market
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...Preference for Metal. It was a ritual pledge, made in response to urgent requests by European bankers to help quell a new outbreak of speculation. The free-market price of gold had been creeping up for more than a month, partly because of tensions in the Middle East and partly because Kennedy inadvertently raised hopes in December that the new Administration might raise the official gold price. Mindful of Nixon's orders to avoid taking policy positions before the inaugural, Kennedy replied to a question about gold prices by saying that he would "keep all options open." Despite disclaimers...
...weeks ago, the free-market price in London and Zurich climbed to $42.75 per oz. That was the highest in the ten months since a buying panic forced central bankers to adopt a two-price system and stop supporting the price of privately traded gold at $35. After Kennedy's declaration last week, the free-market price retreated...
...reserves created a price-stabilizing oversupply of the metal in the free market. Now that cushion is depleted because speculators have bought it up. If the price gap grows larger, the central bankers of smaller nations might be tempted to unload official stocks of gold at the much higher free-market price-thereby circumventing the two-tier arrangement...
Bridling at the Setup. As the source of three-fourths of the free world's new gold, South Africa bridled at the new arrangement. Officials figured that if the country turned to the free market for a gold outlet, the price of its largest export would plunge. The U.S., on the other hand, hoped that South Africa would be forced into making free-market sales, thus lowering simultaneously the price of gold and the pressure on the U.S. dollar. The result has been a six-month war of nerves. South Africa has stashed away all but a tiny...
Despite U.S. objections that this would put a floor under the free-market price and thus reward speculators against the dollar, the idea has gradually won strong backing among European bankers. Many worry that the value of their own hefty gold stocks would be lowered if the free-market price should slip below the official price. The larger South Africa's gold pile grows, the more nervous the bankers get, fearful that the great golden overhang might somehow cause the free-market price to collapse. Some see South African sales to the IMF as a clever...